Bride Wars - Critical Review

Bride Wars (2009)

Plot: Lifelong friends Emma (Anne Hathaway) and Liv (Kate Hudson) have long dreamed of having the perfect wedding...in June...at the Plaza. Two very different personalities, Emma and Liv have stuck together through thick and thin. But when their weddings are accidentally booked on the same day, at the same time, and at the same place their friendship is truly put to the test as the competition rages on. In true "Bridezilla" fashion the two try their best to sabatage the ceremony of the other.

Review: First off, yes I know that I checked my man-card at the door, but I am married now, have two sisters, a mother, a sister in-law, and a mother in-law so chick flicks are a necessary evil in my life! On to the review. Apparently there are still dollars to be made in the angry jealous bride niche of chick flicks. I am realizing more and more that there is no hope for the success of new and unique storylines within this genre. Anytime that a new idea is hatched in the Romantic Comedy genre it ends up being too over the top and tanks miserably (see The Lakehouse and Over Her Dead Body). Now that that is off my chest, I was able to find this movie at least a little entertaining. There were good elements of humor that were intertwined making it bearable for the guys that find themselves watching this movie against their own free will. The two main actresses (Hudson and Hathaway) had very good on screen chemistry both when they were best friends and when they were transformed into arch enemies. The story was fairly predictable but it was the antics of the two women that made it memorable. The best part of the film was while they were getting their "Kevin McCallister" on and sneaking in to set up horrible situations to sabatage the other bride (for those of you that are a little slow, that was a Home Alone reference). While some of the antics were reused from other movies they still have the same affect the second time around. Having recently had our hands in planning our wedding, my wife and family (whom I watched this film with) were able to find a little extra humor in the situation since we recently experienced the stress that is wedding planning.

As I stated above, the way that some of the relationships came together and some of the characters were portrayed was very predictable. Yet there was one moment that was not predictable and still does not make sense to me. ***SPOILER ALERT*** Skip this next sentance to avoid a spoiler...After the brides tackled each other in the either, Emma and her fiance Fletcher (Chris Pratt) decided to call it quits? Their conversation here made it seem like the whole "we're not in this for the right reasons" idea was obvious to the rest of the world. I may have missed something but this was not obvious to me. It seemed as if their relationship was going along just fine. They didn't even try to work it out, just called it quits right there at the wedding, no biggy. Another semi-lame moment in the movie was the ending when they left it open for a sequel. Chick Flicks are not supposed to have sequels (see Legally Blonde 2).

I don't feel as if we wasted our $1 in renting this from Redbox, but that's about all that I would suggest that you spend on this film. It was entertaining on the surface but did not have any depth whatsoever. I have rated this at 2 stars out of 5.

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